Dominique David-Chavez, PhD

Dominique David-Chavez is a postdoctoral research fellow working with the Native Nations Institute at the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at University of Arizona and Colorado State University’s Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship. She is currently leading a National Science Foundation postdoctoral research study analyzing Indigenous ethics frameworks and federally funded science research guidelines in principle and in practice. Additional research contributions include studies supporting Indigenous data stewardship, ethics, and research governance in environmental policy and decision-making; developing methods for community-based climate research and resilience in the Caribbean islands; and supporting pathways for decolonizing natural resource sciences. She received her PhD from Colorado State University’s Human Dimensions of Natural Resources program, and her B.S. in Earth Sciences from Montana State University. Dr. David-Chavez draws from her experiences as a multi-cultural Caribbean Indigenous (Arawak Taíno) research scientist, mentor, learner, and mother in her scholarship and practice. In doing so, she holds an intergenerational commitment towards supporting culturally grounded community members, including youth, elders, educators, and farmers as researchers, restoring pathways for knowledge regeneration with the original stewards of Indigenous knowledge systems and lands in which they are embedded.